A view of one of the graves at Carrowmore with Knocknarea
Mountain in the background. Photograph by Goran Burenhult.

One of Ireland's most
important Megalithic tomb sites ­ believed to be at least
1,000 years older than those of the Boyne Valley and to hold
the key to one of the great mysteries of Irish archaeology ­
is in danger of being destroyed by commercial gravel extraction.

This warning was given
yesterday by Professor Michael Joseph O' Kelly of UCC on the
eve of an international conference which will investigate the
significance of the great cemetery of passage graves at Carrowmore,
five miles from Sligo, where recent discoveries have led to a
heated archaeological debate which could result in important
chapters of ancient Irish history being totally re-written.

Professor O' Kelly said
yesterday that since the discovery of 100 tomb sites at Carrowmore
in the middle of the last century 70 of the stone structures
have been destroyed by commercial gravel extraction carried out
by local farmers.

"There is now a
real danger that some of the remaining 30 sites could be destroyed," he
claimed. "Continuing gravel extraction will undoubtedly
endanger what is left of the cemetery."

"The area should
be acquired by the state under some arrangement which would not
dispossess the farmers of their land" he said "I believe
the land should be limited to cattle grazing because tillage
will destroy more tombs. Ideally all gravel extraction should
be stopped in the vicinity of the passage graves and the farmers
should be compensated by the state for the loss of commercial
gravel sales"

"We cannot exaggerate
the importance of what has now been discovered at Carrowmore"
he told me. "The results have been so astonishing that all
the current literature about this period of ancient Irish history
will have to be re-thought and re- written. The whole story has
to be changed."

Up to now, he explained,
archaeologists have held that the megalithic settlers who built
the vast passage graves of Newgrange,
Knowth and
Dowth had come
up the River Boyne directly from Brittany and
Britain and established
a flourishing agricultural society in the Boyne Valley around
3,000 BC.

Boyne Valley Private Day Tours

Pick up and return to your accommodation or cruise ship. Suggested day tour:
Newgrange World Heritage site, 10th century High Crosses at Monasterboice,
Hill of Tara the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, Bective Abbey and Trim Castle the largest Norman castle in Ireland
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